Online Crossword helper (2024)

Are you having trouble finding a word on that Crossword puzzle? We can help! This online and free Crossword solver will help you find the answers you need to finish your Crossword. If you have a clue or a pattern, we have the possible answers!

How to search

Find answers by providing a clue or a pattern. The search types are available from the second dropdown in the search field above. Search for clues to see if it has already been played and if we have the correct answer. For example, clues like "A great deal" or "Planet third nearest to the sun". Or find answers by providing a pattern. For example, "A*ER*CA" will find the answer "AMERICA".

Crossword history

The phrase "cross word puzzle" was first written in 1862 by Our Young Folks in the United States,and another crossword puzzle appeared in an Italian magazine in 1890. But on December 21, 1913,Arthur Wynne, a journalist from Liverpool, England, published a "word-cross" puzzle in the New YorkWorld that embodied most of the features of the modern genre. This puzzle is frequently cited asthe first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. An illustrator later reversed the "word-cross"name to "cross-word”.

In 1942 a Crossword Puzzle nearly spelled the end for D-Day. Two days before the Dieppe invasion,the clue, “French port” was given in the British paper The Daily Telegraph. And the solution was“Dieppe,” given the Dieppe invasion the following day. Was it a coincidence? Read the full story.

The New York Times began to publish a crossword puzzle on 15 February 1942, spurred on by theidea that the puzzle could be a welcome distraction from the harsh news of World War II.

Today, there are many newspapers and magazines that are known for their crossword puzzles. Adifferent crossword is typically printed every day or in every issue, and the answer (or solution) iseither found somewhere else or often not seen until the next day or issue.

Crossword types

Crossword grids such as those appearing in most North American newspapers and magazinesfeature solid areas of white squares. Another tradition in puzzle design, used in Britain in particular,is that the grid should have 180-degree rotational symmetry, so that its pattern appears the same ifthe paper is turned upside down. The design of Japanese crossword grids often follows twoadditional rules: that shaded cells may not share a side and that the corner squares must be white.The typical Scandinavian style, also called “picture crosswords” uses no clue numbers, as the cluesare contained in the cells which do not contain answers. Arrows indicate in which direction the cluesmust be answered: vertical or horizontal.

As you can see, substantial variants from the usual forms exist. Two of the common ones are barredcrosswords, which use bold lines between squares (instead of shaded squares) to separate answers,and circular designs, with answers entered either radially or in concentric circles. You also havecircle around crossword where words may be spelled out in any direction - forward, backward,upward, downward, or diagonally - but always in a straight line. Less common are Spiral puzzle andEccentric crossword.

Download crossword

The New York Times Crossword puzzle is a fun way to keep your brain stimulated. Monday puzzlesare easiest, and throughout the week the puzzles progress in difficulty. If you find you cannot do theharder days, you can always go back into the archive and practice on earlier Monday and Tuesdaypuzzles and it is fun to try to keep a streak going as you complete each day. The New York TimesCrossword puzzle is available in Apple store and Google play. You can download it and start playingfresh crosswords today.

The New York Times Company® is the property of their respective trademark owner. This trademark owner is not affiliated with, and do not endorse and/or sponsor, Wordhelp or its products. Use of this trademark on wordhelp.com is for informational purposes only.

How to play

A traditional crossword is made up of black and white squares, called a grid. All the white squaresappear in horizontal rows or vertical columns but are not always separated with black squares.Another way to say this is that every white square must have at least one other white squaretouching it on any side. The kind of crossword that appears in newspapers and magazines, such asthe one in the image, often has lots of white squares beside each other.

The goal of solving the puzzle is to write different words, letter-by-letter, in the white squares. Nextto the grid is a list of clues. The answer to each clue is a word or sometimes a phrase. The place inthe grid where the answer to each clue should go is shown by a number and the direction in whichthe answer appears, for example, "1 Across" or "15 Down". Many computer programs have beencreated to find the answers to these clues.

There are many types of crosswords. Straight (or Quick) crosswords are usually made up of simpledefinitions - which means that other words are used to describe the answer. Some crosswords,called cryptic crosswords, use riddles and word play and are usually more difficult than straightcrosswords.

Did you know...

...that probably more than 50 million people play crosswords just in America? Or that the world's first crossword puzzle was written in 1862 and that the first "cross word" was "dream"?

Crossword databases

Our crossword clues and answers are collected from crossword games seen in The New York Times, Washington Post and other well-known newspapers and magazines. The crosswords clues and answers are gathered from the year 1976 and all the way up to 2020. Our database contains over 500.000 clues and answers.

Last searches

“Words, words, words.„